This month my team (minus Steph) went to Varazdin, Croatia. My friend Katarina set up an opportunity for us to volunteer at the place where she works working with mentally and phyiscally disabled people. The month is not over yet, but it has been a wonderful experience so far.
The girls lived with Kat, her husband Zoki, her son Jakov, and her mother Nada at her mothers apartment. The guys lived with a couple of friends of hers who only lived a couple blocks away. The girls and guys have all been very blessed with opportunities to live with locals and try an abundance of Croatian food.
We have made many friends at our ministry. We spent our days with the residents playing games, attending discussion groups, and helping make Christmas ornaments to decorate the center and to sell as a fundraiser, taking people out for walks, helping them clean their rooms, attending special events, and speaking about our trip.
We have also made friends with the staff at the place where we are working. Last Saturday they offered to take us to a nearby castle. We made a daytrip and saw not only the castle, but the countryside as well and visited a weekend home of one of the staff members.
All I can say is that eveytime I come to Croatia, I fall more and more in love with this country. This is my fifth time here and I love it even more than before. I have really enjoyed working with the disabled this month. This is the type of ministry that I have been hoping for all year and this month has been amazing being able to volunteer in this capacity. Stay tuned for more blogs from Croatia!
